GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Griffins were home again on Thursday night to wrap up their homestand, hosting the Chicago Wolves hoping to avenge their less than stellar performance on Monday night against the Wolves. So far this season, Chicago has been the only team to defeat Grand Rapids in regulation inside Van Andel Arena. The Wolves continued their dominance over the home team, taking the game 4-2 and improving their record to 6-1 against the Griffins this season.
Chicago opened the scoring when Anthony Richard scored on a shorthanded breakaway for a 1-0 Wolves lead. That goal was the sixth tally for Richard against Grand Rapids this season and the third shorthanded goal that the Griffins have allowed this season. The score stood at 1-0 after the opening 20 minutes.
The Wolves doubled their lead when a Griffins turnover led to a Phil Tomasino goal for Chicago nearly seven minutes into the middle frame.
The Griffins cut the lead in half on the power play when Kyle Criscuolo found the back of the next on a great offensive setup led by Riley Barber and Chase Pearson. The Griffins turned up the energy and continued to try and gain a little bit of momentum. Givani Smith was all over the ice laying hit after hit trying to inspire his team.
Chicago did not flinch and answered right back on a tally from Davin Cotton to regain their two-goal advantage.
The Griffins were still not going to go down without a fight. Just under 30 seconds before the second period ended, Grand Rapids cut the Wolves lead to one as defenseman Joe Hicketts scored his first goal of the year. Pearson set up Hicketts for a pretty one-timer that beat Wolves goalie Connor Ingram.
Grand Rapids had their opportunities in the third period, but came up empty. Max Lajoie added an empty-net goal for the Wolves as they came away with another win against the Griffins.
Pat Nagle played a solid game for the Griffins stopping 27 of 30 shots.
Chicago finished 0-for-2 on the power play while Grand Rapids finished 1-for-3.
The Griffins will next travel to Rockford to square off against the IceHogs on Saturday night with game time starting just after 7 p.m.
